Knife handle



y 1959 v A. M BAER 2,896,321

KNIFE HANDLE Filed Oct. 15 1957 III/III I VIII 2,896,321 Patented July 28, 1959 ice Knife Associated Companies, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of Rhode Island Application October 15, 1957, Serial No. 690,380

2 Claims. (Cl. 30164) This invention relates to a knife handle and to a method of making the same.

More particularly, the invention pertains to a knife handle of the type which includes a sheet metal, or the like, internally concave side scale plate.

For many years it has been the practice to secure a scale plate of the character described to the frame of a knife with tangs that extended from opposite ends of the scale and were tucked into pockets at the end of the frame. Although this construction was reasonably satisfactory in appearance and cost, the tangs disrupted the smooth curve which otherwise would be present at the ends of the scale. Moreover, the use of tangs required an overly large blank, formation of the pockets in the frame, and tucking of the tangs into said pockets, all of which increased cost.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a new knife handle of the character described which avoids the foregoing drawbacks, provides a clean line at the ends of the handle, and can be made at a lesser cost than heretofore.

It is another object of the invention to provide a knife frame of the character described in which the tangs are entirely eliminated and an alternate, more attractive, means of connecting the scale to the frame is utilized.

It is another object of the invention to provide a knife handle of the character described which, despite its lower cost and improved appearance, more firmly attaches the scale to the frame.

It is another object of the invention to provide a knife handle of the character described wherein the attachment of the scale to the frame is particularly rugged and durable.

The most widely used type of knife handle of the character described employs a thin plastic ornamental cover, the longitudinal marginal portions of which are turned in and so manipulated as to grip the scale whereby to form with it a cover unit. Due to variables in manufacturing procedures, the turned in portions of the cover do not invariably closely follow the longitudinal edges of the scale. As a result, the edges of the cover unit sometimes are not realistic, that is to say, the covered scale which, due to the particular design and contour of the cover, usually resembles a thick cleanly cut body of a decorative material like mother of pearl, ivory, etc., does not maintain this resemblance when inturned portions of the cover are rounded and therefore do not exactly follow the edges of the scale. Moreover, the scale sometimes, due to a defect in fabrication, or to longitudinal compression imparted during application of the cover unit to a knife frame, or to careless handling, becomes longitudinally arched or bowed so that it lifts slightly off the frame of the knife at the center and thereby destroys the desired resemblance.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a knife handle of the character described in which the aforesaid defect is eliminated.

It is another object of the invention to provide a knife handle of the character described wherein a plastic ornamental cover is secured to a skeleton scale and in which the scale is secured to a knife frame at points intermediate the ends thereof.

It is another object of the invention to provide a method for making an improved knife handle of the character described.

Other objects of the invention in part will be obvious and in part will be pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly consists in features of construction, combinations of elements, arrangements of parts, and series of steps, which will be exemplified in the knife and method hereinafter described and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a side View of a pocket knife including a handle constructed in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top view of the knife;

Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional views taken substantially along the lines 3-3 and 4-4, respectively, of Figure 2;

Fig. 5 is a side view of one of the lining plates as it appears before assembly in a knife frame;

Fig 6 is a perspective view of an end of said lining plate showing the same as it is being approached by one of the scale hold-down pins;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 77 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a view similar to Fig. 6 but illustrating the lining plate after the hold-down pin has been secured thereto;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 99 of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is an enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the line 1010 of Fig. l; and

Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 10 but showing the cover unit prior to assembly with the knife frame.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, the reference numeral 20 denotes a pocket knife of the type commonly known as a jack-knife, the same consisting essentially of a handle on which blades are pivotally mounted so as to be outfolded from or infolded into the same. This type of knife has been described inasmuch as it represents one of the popular forms of a knife in which the invention can be utilized. However, it is desired to point out that the present invention is not to be limited to such a knife and can be employed with equal facility in a knife having a fixed or a slidable blade.

More particularly, the knife 2i constitutes a frame which includes two outside lining plates 22, 24. These are comparatively thin sheet metal plates fabricated, for example, from brass, and are standard in the industry. The contour of the plates is the same as the side contour of the finished knife and the two plates are identically shaped and dimensioned. In the knife being described, a third or intermediate lining plate 26 also is present, this being the same size and shape as the plates 22, 24. The three plates are located in registry and are spaced and parallel.

Each pair of plates is held apart by a heavy steel back spring 28, located at the back of the knife and running alongside the back edges of the lining plates. The shapes of the two back springs are alike and best are seen in Fig. 3 from which it will be apparent that the springs are comparatively slender over the majority of their lengths and are thickened at only one end.

The back springs are pierced, i.e., apertured, at the thickened end and at about the middle of the knife frame. In the openings thus provided, rivets 30, 32 are snugly fitted, said rivets extending through all three of the lining plates as well as through both of the back springs, and being headed at their outer extremities, as indicated in Fig. 4, so that the three plates and two back springs are integrated as a unitary assembly which is customarily referred to as a knife frame. It will be observed that one end of each back spring is free so that it can flex. The adjacent end of the frame is formed with a registered series of apertures in the lining plates which receive a third rivet 34 having its tips headed as indicated in Fig. 4 so as to fix the same to the frame. This latter rivet is clear of the back springs. The illustrated knife further includes a pair of blades 36, 38, each of which has a shank 40 provided with a through opening which rotatably engages the rivet 34.

One of the blades when infolded lies in one of the narrow compartments defined by an adjacent pair of lining plates and a thick spring sandwiched between at their back edges. The other blade is disposed in the other narrow compartment. The shanks of the blades are shaped in the usual fashion to enable each blade to cam the free end of its associated back spring outwardly as the blade turns from infolded to outfolded position, and to have a long fiat surface of the shank engage the back spring when the blade is either in its outfolded or infolded position whereby it will tend to snap into and maintain one or the other of said positions.

The foregoing description of the knife frame, consisting of the lining plates, the back springs, the rivets and the pivoted blades, has been given by way of example, only in order to form a proper background for understanding of the present invention and is not to be construed as limitative inasmuch as it should be understood that this invention can be practised with any type of knife handle frame.

As is conventional in a knife, the opposite sides of the frame have cover units mounted thereon. In accordance with the instant invention, each said unit includes a skeleton scale 42. This scale, which is described in considerable detail in United States Letters Patents Nos. 2,170,537, issued August 22, 1939, and 2,689,400, issued September 21, 1954, essentially consists of an elongated, externally convex and internally concave, shallow sheet metal member having raised arched end portions 44, 46 which form the bolsters of the cover unit and a depressed, elongated central arched portion 48. The plan configuration of the scale matches the plan configuration of the knife frame except along the central portion 48, the lateral edges of which are slightly inset from the corresponding edges of the bolsters for a reason which soon will be pointed out. Optionally, as shown in the knife being described, the said central portion includes at its external surface a large number of longitudinally elongated grooves so that this portion of the scale has the appearance of a stag handle.

Associated with each scale is an ornamental cover 50 formed of a thin sheet of a synthetic resin, preferably a heat plasticizable material such, for instance, as cellulose nitrate, cellulose acetate, cellulose acetate butyrate, an acrylic resin, a polyamide resin, a polyester resin, or a vinyl polymer or copolymer. Optionally, it also is within the scope of the invention to employ a sheet of a thermosetting resin, for example, a phenol or urea formaldehyde condensation product.

The plastic cover sheet 50 is superimposed on the central portion 48 of the skeleton scale and is secured thereto so as to be self-held thereon in drumtight relationship therewith in a manner set forth in the aforesaid patents whereby the plastic sheet is in close and intimate contact with the arched central portion and appears to be an integral part thereof. During the formation of the elongated cover unit, which constitutes the integrated scale and plastic sheet, the sheet preferably is heated and pressed with a shaped die that matches the stag grooves whereby said sheet is conformed to the external shape of the central portion 48 of the scale. The sheet is secured to the scale by locally plasticizing the sheet along those portions thereof which are adjacent the longitudinal edges of the central portion of the scale and folding the marginal edge portions of the sheet to underlie the scale so that when the plasticized portions set the desired drumtight relationship and intimate contact is secured.

The lateral edges of the central portion of the scale are inset by an amount which is substantially equal to the thickness of the plastic sheet. Accordingly, after the integration of the sheet and scale, the cover unit exactly matches the contour of the underlying side of the knife frame.

In accordance with the present invention, the cover unit is not provided with the usual tangs which are shown in the aforesaid patents and which are subject to the drawbacks described above. Instead, a novel arrangement is utilized to secure the cover unit to the knife frame in a manner such that the ends of the cover unit are uninterrupted by the tangs and the edges of the central portion of the cover unit are firmly held against the frame.

More particularly, the cover unit is pierced at at least two spaced points. Desirably, these points are located, for a reason which later will be appreciated, within the central arched portion 48, that is to say, between the bolsters. Each ensuing openingextends through both elements of the cover unit, to wit, through the scale and through the plastic cover sheet.

Specifically referring to Fig. 11, it will be seen that the scale is fashioned with a through opening 52 and the cover sheet is provided with a registered through opening 54. Desirably, both of these openings are formed by a conventional punching operation performed on the cover unit after the ornamental plastic sheet has been integrated with the sheet metal scale. In this manner, registration of the openings is more easily obtained. In the preferred form of the invention there are two sets of such openings, one, near but not at each of the bolsters, and both sets of openings lying on or near the central longitudinal axis of the cover unit.

Furthermore, in accordance with the instant invention, the means for attaching each cover unit to the knife frame comprises a pin 56 for each of the sets of matched openings 52, 54. Each pin is anchored at one end in the knife frame and at its other end in the cover unit.

Referring to Fig. 9, it will be observed that one end of the pin is anchored in the frame. For this purpose said end of the pin is formed, as shown in Fig. 7, with a reduced diameter, as indicated at 58, so as to provide a shoulder 60 between the reduced end and the main body of the pin. The outer lining plate on the side of the frame at which the cover unit is to be attached is fashioned with a through opening 62. In the manufacture of the knife, the reduced end 58 is inserted in the opening 62 until the shoulder 60 strikes the external surface of the lining plate. Thereafter the tip of the end 58 which protrudes through the lining plate is peened so as to head the same and thereby securely lock the pin to the lining plate. It will be understood that alternate methods of anchoring the pin to the frame so as to extend perpendicularly outwardly therefrom are within the scope of the invention, although the method that has been illustrated and described is preferred.

The openings 62 are so located as to be in alignment with the sets of openings 52, 54 when the cover unit overlies a side of the knife frame in registry therewith.

The pins 56 can be secured to the knife frame at any stage of the manufacture of the latter, a suitable stage being before the lining plates have been assembled with the springs, rivets and blades to make the frame.

Referring now to Fig. 11, the last step in securing a cover unit to the knife frame is illustrated. The cover unit is lined up with the knife frame with the pins 56 registered with the openings 52, 54 in the cover unit. Then the cover unit is abutted against the knife frame whereby the outer tips of the frame-carried pins will protrude. t lough the cover unit. Now the aforesaid tips of the pins are peened to form heads 64 which are larger than the openings 52, 54, and which, in the formation thereof, press the cover unit against the frame thereby making certain to reduce to an absolute minimum any space between the cover unit and the frame along the length of the knife. At the same time, if the inturned marginal edge portions of the cover sheet should be round, they will be pressed against the lateral edges of the scale so as to eliminate such roundness.

It thuswill be seen that there is provided a knife handle and method of making the same which achieves the various objects of the invention and is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein described or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described the invention, there is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent:

1. In combination in a knife handle, an elongated knife frame including two elongated outside lining plates, at least one narrow back spring disposed at a long edge of the frame and with said plates defining at least one elongated narrow compartment open along the other long edge of the frame, means at the ends of the frame and also adjacent the edge of the frame where the spring is located to permanently join the outer lining plates and spring to one another, at least two pins located adjacent the longitudinal central axis of the frame and spaced inwardly from the ends of the frame, means permanently rigidly and securely mounting one end of each of said pins on one of the outer lining plates to protrude perpendicularly outwardly only therefrom leaving the compartment unobstructed, a cover unit including an elongated arched externally convex sheet metal scale and a plastic cover sheet overlying a substantial portion of said scale and having its edges turned in to lie beneath said scale, said sheet being drumtightly self-held to said scale in intimate contact therewith, the contour of said cover unit substantially matching the contour of the frame, said cover unit having matched openings in the scale and sheet through which the free ends of said pins extend, said ends of the pins being headed and pressing the cover unit, including the inturned portions of the sheet, against the one outer lining plate.

2. A combination as set forth in claim 1 wherein the one end of each pin is of reduced diameter, the one outer lining plate having an opening therein for each pin, said reduced ends of the pins extending into and through said openings to the opposite side of the said lining plate, said reduced ends of the pins being headed on said opposite side of said lining plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,297,855 Allen Oct. 6, 1942 2,303,302 Paolantonio Nov. 24, 1942 2,479,855 Mirando Aug. 23, 1949 2,637,102 Vossler May 5, 1953 

